The Heart of Summer
by B4U
Summary: [AU] Roxas is forced to spend the summer with his father, whom he hasnt seen since he was five. He is surprised to find himself not only living with his father, but with a new stepmother and stepbrother as well. Awkward moments ensure. [Akuroku]
1. Off to a Rocky Start

**Hey everyone!**

**Alright, so this is my second kh fic, and I'm not sure whether or not to continue the first one. It depends on how this one goes. :) Pairings: Akuroku, rikuxsora, and maybe some leonxcloud. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, obviously. :)**

Chapter One- Off to a Rocky Start

The day was gloomy, the sky dark and ominous. The light drizzle that was not quite rain and yet couldn't be called fog slowly dampened the grass and misted in the sky. Lightning flashed through the sky sporadically, and thunder threateningly reverberated through the ground.

The day fit Roxas's mood perfectly.

Sighing, he reached for the handle of the car door, feeling his mother's eyes on him but choosing not to meet them.

"Roxas, honey?" she said softly.

Roxas remained silent, but opened the door to the car. Stepping outside, he surveyed the area.

The house was larger than he had expected, and the neighborhood was high-end. The white paint looked fresh and new, the black shutters framed the windows that looked out onto the street. Roxas stared briefly at the house before going around to the back of the car to retrieve his luggage from the trunk.

"You know how sorry I am about all of this. Its only going to be for a coupe of months, I promise!" his mother pleaded, but to no avail. Roxas continued unloading his overly packed suitcases from the trunk, stumbling slightly as one of the wheels caught on the curb of the sidewalk.

His mother tried again. "Roxas. Please don't be upset, there's nothing I can do--"

"Nothing…nothing you can do! How about NOT going off to L.A for the summer so that you can spend time with your _boyfriend_ that you barely know! How about NOT leaving me with my "dad" who, by the way, I last saw when I was 5 years old!" Roxas yelled, finally voicing the thoughts that he had harbored in silence during the 4 hour car trip.

His mother looked guilty, yet she wasn't about to turn back now.

"It'll be a good chance to get to know your father. And besides…I'm not going to L.A just to see Cid, I'm going because there's more opportunity for me there. You _do_ want me to be happy, don't you?"

Roxas chose not to answer that. Sure, he could handle the late nights alone, the sleazy boyfriends that her mother brought home, the constant rise and fall of her acting career, but one thing he could NOT handle was going to live with his father, who he barely knew, for an entire summer. He felt abandoned, he felt unwanted, and most of all, he felt angry.

Turning away from her, he lugged his two suitcases towards the front porch. He looked back at his mother, who was now watching him from the safety of her own car, and sighed yet again. Reaching up towards the doorbell, Roxas hesitated, and then finally pressed it quickly. The sound of chimes was drowned out by the sudden downpour of rain.

Waiting, Roxas yet again glanced up at the house towering over him. It was at least 4 times the size of his own house, and a hell of a lot nicer. Roxas briefly wondered why on earth his father would need such a large house to himself, but then thought better of it. If the stories his mother had told him were any inclination, his father clearly had enough money to go around.

As the heavy front door opened, Roxas's stomach unclenched when he realized it was only a maid and not his father. Only…only a maid? _Wow, he must be even richer than I thought_, Roxas thought in awe.

"You must be Roxas," the woman said warmly, holding the door open for him to step inside. She took both of his suitcases and set them aside, and then reached back to shut the large front door. Roxas took one last look outside only to see his mother's car long gone.

"Your father is currently away on a business trip, but he was expecting you. Your room is ready, if you'd like to follow me upstairs…" she said, leading him up a large wooden staircase.

"When…when will he be back?" Roxas questioned, following.

"Oh, probably Sunday morning or early afternoon, depending on the weather. It's been like this for days, and hopefully it'll clear up by then."

At this point, the two stood in front of a closed door. Roxas took this to be his room. The maid set down Roxas's luggage and reached into one of her pockets to extract a key she then used to unlock the door.

Handing the key to Roxas to keep, she turned to face him. He looked at her for the first time, taking in her shoulder length auburn hair and light blue eyes. She was actually quite pretty, he realized, and only a few years older than him.

"I'm Kairi, by the way," she announced, holding out her hand for him to shake. He took it, and then nodded in acknowledgement. "If you need anything, just give me a holler, I'll be around. Only on weekends though; I have classes during the week."

Roxas's eyes widened. "But it's summer!" he said, incredulous.

She shrugged. "Summer school," she said, not giving further explanation. Roxas nodded once again.

"Well, I'll leave you to unpack and stuff. Like I said, I'm here if you need anything," Kairi said, and then disappeared down the large flight of stairs.

Roxas pushed the door open, and was again bewildered at what he saw. The room was almost entirely white, save for a few throw pillows and the wooden floor at his feet. It was at least twice the size of his old room and it seemed too neat and organized to live in. In the center of the room stood a large canopy bed, a down comforter looking extremely soft and fluffy. Roxas, thankful for something comfortable, collapsed onto the bed and within minutes, escaped to his dreams to try to forget what hell lay ahead.

Roxas awoke, wondering where on earth he was, before the events of the previous day came rushing back to him. Groaning, he turned to his right where a small digital clock read 8:36. Roxas briefly wondered whether it was morning or night, since his room was dark save for the red light illuminating from the clock.

He tumbled from his bed, swearing when he hit hard wood rather than the cushy carpet in his room at home. Making his way over to the large windows, he pulled back the drapes to reveal that it was, in fact, 8:36 in the morning. _I guess I was more tired than I thought_, Roxas said to himself.

Wondering what he should possibly do next, he spied a towel sitting on a white desk in the corner of the room and thought_, A shower is as good an idea as any_. He grabbed the towel and, opening the door that he suspected was the bathroom, stepped inside. It was large, but Roxas had expected that. Marble tiling lined the shower and the walls as well. There was a separate area for the toilet, as well as a door that Roxas suspected to be a closet of some sort.

Roxas undressed slowly, wishing that he hadn't slept in his clothes the night before. Adjusting the temperature of the water so that it was hot but not uncomfortable, Roxas relaxed, letting the warm water flow down his body and tried to forget about spending the summer in this large, unwelcome house with only his father, whom he didn't even really remember, for comfort.

Roxas turned off the water after some time and stepped out of the shower, a small puddle of water forming underneath him. He looked around, forgetting momentarily where he had left his towel, when he heard a sound that caused him to stop in his tracks.

The doorknob to what Roxas had suspected to be a linen closet was turning slowly, and Roxas wasn't sure what to make of it. Frozen he stood there, wondering who or _what_ on earth was inside that closet. Eyes widening, Roxas just stood there, hoping that a monster wouldn't pop out and eat him.

What opened the door wasn't a monster, but Roxas might argue that what he saw was worse. Apparently, the "closet" wasn't really a closet at all, but in fact a bedroom, judging from the bed visible from Roxas's position in the bathroom. And out of it had come a boy, about a head taller than Roxas, and with alarmingly bright red hair. He just started at Roxas, and Roxas, immobilized, just stared back, growing redder by the moment, still wearing absolutely nothing. It was only after a moment that Roxas had the sense to grab the towel that was resting conveniently on the hook next to the shower. Why, oh _why_ couldn't he have grabbed it a second earlier?

The red-head just continued to stare at Roxas's half naked self, looking him up and down with an expression in his eyes that Roxas couldn't identify but didn't like one bit. He felt as though he was a zoo animal, being ogled at without shame.

By now, Roxas estimated that his face was probably about the color of the boy's hair, if not a shade or two darker. He noted that the boy _still_ hadn't had the decency to avert his eyes. Roxas, deciding that now was a good time as any to get out of this awkward situation, turned away, securely fastening his towel as he went. Stumbling slightly as he went, he shut the door to his bedroom so loudly that it rattled on its hinges.

_What on earth had happened back there?_ Roxas thought. _And who the hell was the redhead looking like he wanted to jump me?_

**Well, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Review please. Thanksss**


	2. Meetings and Greetings

**So I'm gonna have to say that I updated pretty fast, for me at least. Also, I decided to switch point of view sometimes, for a little variety. **

**If the characterization is kinda off, just don't like kill me. I just want to make the story interesting/ fun.**

**Ok, so here's chapter two! This wasn't as long, probably because I wrote it really quickly. But I did update semi-fast, so that's a plus. Normally, I'll update like twice a week or something because I have a crapload of homework every night along with soccer practice every day. Yeah, this author's note is getting rather long and if you even bothered to read this far, then on with the story. Ahem. Enjoy!**

Chapter Two- Meetings and Greetings

Axel crossed his arms over his chest, a slight smile playing on his lips. So _that _was Roxas. His soon-to-be stepbrother.

Well, wasn't he just too darn cute!

Axel quickly stepped out of his jeans and black tee, humming to himself happily. He turned the water to a comfortable temperature, and stepped in lazily.

_On second thought…_Axel said to himself, looking down. He turned the faucet down a few notches so it was reasonably cold.

This was going to be an interesting summer, all right.

Roxas shut his bedroom door behind him, his face still brighter than an overripe tomato. He found the key that Kairi had given him on the floor in the back pocket of the jeans he had been wearing the previous day and locked the door to the bathroom.

Deciding to be on the safe side, Roxas pushed the bedside table against the door, and then, feeling slightly ridiculous, added his desk and chair to the pile of furniture. Roxas stepped back to admire his handiwork, and, deciding that would about do it, began to get dressed.

There. If any creepy sexual perverts wanted to peek in on him getting changed again, let them get through THAT barricade.

Roxas opened his suitcase, and frowned at his clothes choices, which pretty much consisted of a navy blue sweatshirt and jeans, if he was looking to wear something that was actually clean. Deciding to make a good first impression, he went with that. Roxas glanced at his reflection in the mirror, and to his disappointment, heard a large crash. The chair had fallen off of his barricade.

Well, so much for his high tech defense system against perverts.

Roxas slowly padded down the stairs, following the voices that were coming from downstairs and hoping that they weren't coming from that creepy red-haired guy.

He was in luck.

However, what he saw was certainly unexpected. One second Roxas was standing at the bottom of the stairs, still yawning sleepily as it was 9:00 in the morning, and the next he was being wholeheartedly glomped by something, or _someone_, rather, with a bushy mane of blond hair.

"Ohhhhh!" someone squealed, "You must be Roxas! I've been waiting all week for this! I've heard so much about you, although you're a lot different than I expected, quite pretty too, I bet you're popular with the ladies, if you know what I mean! Oh, I'm so sorry I wasn't here to see you in last night, it was pretty busy and all because of my water polo match and all, but I'm here now, never fear. I hope that Kairi made you comfortable and everything, oh and have you met Axel! No matter, we'll get you all settled in and ready to roll soon enough!"

Roxas stared at her, not sure what to make of this bubbling woman with a mouth the size of Texas. Which was, to say, rather large.

Still smiling widely, she seemed to notice his skepticism.

"Hi," he said in a small voice, still somewhat overwhelmed. "Who…who are you?" he asked, hoping he wasn't being rude.

"Oh, how could I have forgotten! I'm Selphie, of course! Your soon to be stepmother!"

Roxas blanked momentarily, not sure if he had heard her correctly.

"Step…stepmother?" he said. _What the hell? This freaking…freak is going to be my stepmother?_

"Yes, silly!" she said, wagging a finger at him. "What…your father didn't tell you?"

Roxas's face hardened. "No. I haven't talked to him in awhile," he said simply. _Try 11 years. _

Again, this didn't seem to dampen Selphie's spirits. "Well, then this must be a pleasant surprise for you! To be getting a stepmother _and _stepbrother all in one day!"

Roxas stiffened. "And who is this…stepbrother?" he asked, afraid of what the answer was going to be.

"That would be me," said a voice from behind him. Roxas spun around and came face to with his new, soon to be "stepbrother."

Same flaming red hair. Same tall, lanky frame. Same perverted smile that Roxas wanted to rip off.

Yup, it was him.

"This is Axel, my handsomest, bestest, and actually only son, of all time. Axel, this is your cute little stepbrother Roxas," Selphie concluded.

"I can see that," Axel said, a devilish grin on his face.

Roxas, already have been red enough for one day, turned magenta, just for a change. Being referred to as "cute" and "little" did as much to embarrass him as anger him. He turned back to Selphie and tried to hide his face from the both of them, but to no avail.

"So," he started, hoping to change the subject. "When is the wedding going to be?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you asked! It's scheduled to be on October 3rd, but the rain date; of course you need a rain date by the way, because October, although it may not look it, is a pretty rainy month, but yes, the rain date is the 7th. I've gotten most of the invitations sent out, and then there are a couple that I'm debating whether or not to send because yes, I've considered that 3000 people at a wedding might be a little much, but I can't just not invite Quistis and the others, even though they're from final fantasy viii and all, but they'll still be disappointed if they don't get invitations, and I don't know…"

Roxas, losing her somewhere after her comment on how October seemed to be a rainy month, drifted to think instead about the situation he suddenly found himself in.

First of all, who was this woman? Yeah, sure, his soon to be stepmother, but really! From the stories he heard about his father from his mother, he was a man who was in love with his job more than his family, and acted as if he had a stick or two up his ass. Again, this could have to do with the fact that they had gotten divorced 11 years ago after a large fight, Roxas had concluded, but still. A man that sends his son a birthday card once a year yet doesn't make an effort at any further contact does NOT decide to marry someone like Selphie.

Realizing that Selphie had suddenly concluded her monologue, Roxas looked up to find both Axel and Selphie staring intently at him.

"Uhhh…hmm?" Roxas said, unintelligently.

"I said, do you want me to show you around town today?" Axel asked.

Roxas blushed again, although he was not sure why. He was tempted to say no, but seeing as Selphie was standing about two feet to his left, he wasn't sure how that would go over. From her point of view, Roxas didn't have any reason to not want to be shown around by Axel. From his point of view, Roxas had a lot of reasons not to want to be shown around by Axel: mainly, because Axel was a freaking pervert.

Instead of saying this, however, Roxas nodded reluctantly.

Axel's smile brightened to about 1000 watts.

"Alright! Let's get going then!" he said in a voice that matched the excitement level of Selphie's. Much to Roxas's surprise and embarrassment, Axel grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the kitchen, leaving Selphie to smile at just how well her two little "sons" (as she now thought of Roxas as her son) were getting along.

_This was going to be a long, sketchy day,_ Roxas thought.

**Haha yeah, so that's fun. Review, maybe? **


	3. Meet the Gang

**Alright, here's chapter three! It's a little longer, but I tend to write short chapters. Yeahh. **

**Thank you so much for all of your reviews, everyone! Sora Keyblader, Mamotte Ageru, Shadow of Darkness 22, phaz, Toxic Lust, TeleIce, Veritas4Eternity, TFI-Muse, taste of fire, Taiki-chan, and Duchess Elda, you're basically my heros. I like reviews, what can I say? Anywayyyy….yeah. Here's the next chapter of fun.**

Chapter Three- Meet the Gang

Axel pulled Roxas along merrily, a large smile plastered on his face. Roxas, being dragged a few feet behind and glaring daggers at Axel's back, was having a hard time keeping up with Axel's long strides.

"You can let go of my hand now!" Roxas said loudly, hoping that the fourth time he asked would actually produce a result.

"That's alright, I don't mind!" Axel said happily. Roxas sighed, deciding not to explain yet again that it wasn't a question of whether _Axel_ minded or not.

Axel stopped abruptly. Roxas walked straight into him, and quickly jumped back, apologizing.

"Here we are!" Axel said, ignoring Roxas's profuse apologies. Roxas stepped to the side of Axel to get a better view, and then looked curiously at him. In front of them was a large house, looking broken down and half-hidden by overgrown shrubbery. There were no signs that anyone had lived there for at least the last ten years.

"Umm…where are we exactly?"

"Oh, silly me, I forgot to mention! This is where my friends and I all hang out. Since you're gonna be here basically the whole summer, I'll introduce you." He winked (to Roxas's disgust) and walked towards the old house, still dragging Roxas along with him.

Roxas gulped. He wasn't so good at meeting new people, especially kids his own age.

The two walked past the front door, too covered in ivy to enter, and to the side of the house. Axel, finally letting go of Roxas's hand, opened a window that looked like it was almost ready to collapse. He climbed in, his skinny frame easily fitting through the small space.

Roxas followed suit, ignoring Axel's out held hand. "I can do it myself, you know," he said defensively.

Inside, the house was just as disheveled as it was outside. Axel turned to his left and, opening a door, descending into a basement that looked more than a little creepy. Roxas hesitated, thinking back to every ghost story he had ever heard, and decided that more than half of them involved dark basements with rickety stairs. There was a flash of light and he heard a scream from below, along with a low murmur of voices. Roxas gripped the doorframe even tighter.

Axel, halfway down the stairs, seemed to notice that Roxas was no longer standing behind him. He turned back questioningly and when he saw Roxas's expression, raised his eyebrows.

"Aww, Roxas are you scared!" he said loudly, quickly ascending up the rickety staircase. The voices in the basement grew quiet, and Roxas could have sworn he heard a chuckle.

"What! No! What are you talking about? I'm just thinking that this probably isn't a good idea, because I mean come on, this house looks like it was built in early 500 BC and it just cant be stable. What if it collapses on us! WHAT THEN!" Roxas decided not to mention the fact that this was only half of his worries. The other half consisted of ghosts, ax murderers, and quite possibly a few zombies thrown in there.

Axel looked like he was fighting back the urge to laugh. Roxas pouted.

"Roxas, don't worry, I'll protect you from collapsing buildings and whatever else you might be scared of!" Before Roxas knew what was going on, he found his head being squashed onto Axel's chest and a pair of arms wrapped tightly around him. He blinked.

"What the hell are you doing! Get off of me!" Roxas pushed Axel away, his face once again turning magenta, and wrapped his arms tightly around himself.

Axel noted that Roxas looked absolutely adorable when he was angry. Also when he was embarrassed, scared, ect. Basically, in Axel's opinion, he looked molestable 24-7.

"Come on, it'll be fine, Roxas!" Axel said, ignoring Roxas's state of embarrassment. Roxas sighed, and reluctantly followed Axel down the stairs.

"It's not my fault if the house collapses on us," Roxas muttered under his breath.

At the bottom of the stairs, Roxas stopped abruptly. Instead of the shabby interior he had expected, other than the shaggy green carpet that could be loosely referred to puke green, the surroundings were relatively nice. The walls were painted a dark blue color, and from what Roxas could see in the dim light, there was a pool table in the center of the room. A TV faced outwards towards a couch, or what seemed to be a couch. It was hard to tell with the large number of people sitting on and around it.

"Hey everyone," Axel addressed the crowd. No one answered. Their attention remained fixed on the TV screen.

"No, don't go in there! YOU'RE GOING TO GET KILLED!" someone yelled.

"Shut up, Sora, what did we tell you about talking during movies?" a girl criticized.

The boy named Sora, either not hearing the girl of choosing to ignore her, spoke again.

"Are you serious? The CLOSET? Why would you ever open the closet when he—AHH!" The boy yelped and dove across the couch to cover his eyes. On the screen, the blonde girl's face was gruesomely disfigured. Roxas also yelped, covering his eyes when blood spewed everywhere on the TV. In the background, he could hear cries of, "Sora, get offa me!", "stop being such a wimp!" and "this isn't a scary movie, its supposed to be a comedy!"

Roxas peeked out from his hands over his eyes, pretending that he hadn't been terrified just a second ago. A comedy? Yeah right.

Axel was now standing directly in front of the TV, blocking it to get everyone's attention.

"Guuuuuyssss!" he said, flailing his arms around a bit.

"What?" they all said, apparently irritated that their show was being interrupted. Someone extracted a remote from deep within the couch and paused the movie.

"Alright, now that I have you attention…" Axel started.

Everyone waited.

"This is Roxas!" he said, pointing towards Roxas, still standing at the foot of the stairs behind the couch. Everyone turned to look at him. Roxas blushed and tried to hide but didn't want to look like an idiot in the process.

"He's going to be my new stepbrother or something. Isn't he cute?" Axel looked at the group expectantly. Roxas died a little inside.

"Roxas, this is everyone. Riku, Naminé, Kairi, Cloud, Leon, Demyx, Zexion, Yuffie, and the one under the couch is Sora. This is The Gang. They're generally a good time. Any questions?" Roxas chose not to respond, but rather shook his head.

"Alright! So now that Roxas is in The Gang, let's get to this movie palooza action. What are we watching?"

"Scary Movie 3. Which is supposed to be funny. But apparently Sora disagrees," said the girl Roxas thought might possibly be Kairi. She pressed play on the clicker and started the movie up again.

Axel, at this point, was wedged in between Kairi and Sora. Roxas wondered how on Earth they had fit ten people on one couch, but chose not to question it.

"Roxas! Get over here!" Sora called.

"Umm…it's ok, seems a little cramped anyways," Roxas said, hoping Sora would leave it at that.

"Nonsense!" Axel said. In one swift motion, he pulled Roxas onto the couch and into his lap.

Flustered, Roxas squirmed and tried to get out of the death grip that Axel held him in.

"It's ok! I can stand!" he squealed.

"That's ok, Roxas, this is pretty comfortable, I'd say," Axel said, seeming to be enjoying himself. Roxas felt like he was going to explode from embarrassment.

"No, Axel, I don't—"

"SHUT UP. I AM TRYING TO WATCH A MOVIE HERE. I SPENT THREE DOLLARS AND FOURTY FIVE CENTS TO RENT THIS AND I REALLY WOULD APPRICIATE YOU NOT TALKING HERE."

Roxas stared at the source of this outburst, which seemed to come from, if he remembered correctly, the girl named Yuffie.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"It's ok!" she said cheerfully.

Roxas, slightly sketched out, stayed quiet throughout the rest of the movie. However, it was nearly impossible to concentrate on the enthralling plot twists and character development on account of his position in Axel's lap.

Axel, every so often, would trail his hand up the side of Roxas's leg, and Roxas, every so often, would have to slap him. He probably would have punched him in the face, except for the fact that he was scared of being killed by Yuffie for talking during her precious movie.

Roxas concluded, without doubt, that Axel was a psychopath pervert with weird friends to go along with him.

Axel sat at his kitchen table a few hours later, blowing on alphabet soup he had made for lunch.

The morning had been good.

Not only was Roxas cute, but he was also playing hard to get. Ah, well, no matter, Axel liked a challenge. Especially one as innocent as Roxas.

He sipped his soup, sighing contentedly at its tomato-y taste. Good times. Yup.

"Roxas!" A voice called. Roxas sighed gustily, afraid to turn around. He did _not_ feel in the mood to be molested by Axel at the moment.

"Roxas, its me!" the voice called again, closer this time. Roxas reluctantly turned around.

Standing there was a man, about six feet tall with black hair and a wide smile. His father.

His father was smiling.

Wait, his father was _smiling? _What?

Roxas stood still as he was, for the hundredth time that day, enveloped in a hug.

What the hell was wrong with these people? Had they corrupted his dad as well?

"Hey…hey dad," he said wearily, reluctantly hugging him back.

"I'm sorry I wasn't around yesterday to see you, I was pretty busy," he said apologetically.

"Oh um, its ok…" Roxas said.

"Good!" There was an awkward silence, in which Roxas decided it wasn't the best time to bring up the absence of his father from his life for eleven years. That was more of an evening conversation, he decided.

"Well, um, I think I might go upstairs and take a…nap…" Roxas said, although he hadn't taken a nap since he was twelve. His father nodded, still smiling.

"Just be down for dinner! I'm making mu shu pork, you know!"

Roxas forced a smile, wondering what on Earth had compelled his father to take up the art of Chinese cooking.

Roxas mounted the stairs one at a time, opened the door to his room and, for the second time in two days, collapsed onto his bed.

**Yupp, that's chapter three. Hoped you guys liked it. This story is preeeetty fun to write haha. Reviews anyone?**


	4. Let's Go to Six Flags

Ok, another chapter. Sorry it took so long!

So I tried something new with switching point of view and stuff, and I'm not sure how it's going to turn out. Tell me if you think it works, or if it doesnt...

Well, on with the story! I love writing this. And some of it is based on actual events. Not much, but some.

Enjoy!

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Chapter Four--Let's Go to Six Flags.

Riku stared at the TV screen, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Beside him, an extremely happy Sora jumped for joy more than a little enthusiastically, running in circles and practically bouncing of the walls with excitement.

"I wooooonnnnn! I beat Ri-kuuu, after 6 years, after four thousand, seven hundred and twenty three games, I finally beat him! I BEAT YOU, RIKU, TAKE THAT!"

Sora was clearly having a good time rubbing in his first, and Riku hoped, last, victory at Super Mario World. And no, not the nice, new PS2 version, but the rather old school version on Super Nintendo.

Riku, clearly still in a state of shock, wondered what on Earth was wrong with him. Was he sick? Was he dying? _I_ _must be dying,_ he decided. There was no other possible way that Sora, who had lost infinite consecutive times these past six years, could have beaten him.

Sora, still dancing somewhere in the background, was clearly unaware of Riku's state of distress. Kairi, Naminé, Leon, and Cloud, the few who had remained at the groups' hangout, looked worriedly at Riku. Was he dying, or what?

"Want to play another game, Riku, huh? Want me to school you _again_?" Sora taunted.

"I don't want to play any more," Riku said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sora, I think its better to leave Riku alone now," Kairi said gently, putting her arm on Sora's shoulder.

"Why?" he said, surprised at her serious tone.

"He's not used to this kind of thing. I think you may have seriously injured his ego," she whispered. Riku continued to stare at the wall.

Sora looked at her with wide eyes. "Really? I didn't mean to hurt his feelings, I was just…happy..." he looked a little more upset than was necessary.

"Riku?" Sora said gently, dropping to his knees so that he was face to face with Riku. No response.

"You alive in there?" Sora tried again, waving his hand in front of Riku's face.

"Ri-kuuu, I'm sorry, we don't have play anymore if you don't want to!" Sora, still not getting an answer, proceeded to climb onto Riku's lap.

This certainly got his attention.

"Woah, Riku, seriously, are you sick?" Sora said curiously, feeling Riku's forehead.

"N-no," Riku stammered. For some reason, his heart seemed to speed up to twice its normal pace. On second thought…maybe he really WAS sick.

"If you're not sick, why is your face so red?" Sora said.

"I…I don't know, ok! Now…g-get off me!" Riku said, standing up abruptly and knocking Sora to the floor. Without a second word, he stormed up the stairs and out of the basement.

"What…what did I do?" Sora asked no one in particular. He felt like he was going to cry. Riku, who had been his best friend since he was 7, was mad at him. Riku, who he had never gotten into a fight with, was mad at him.

Riku never got mad. Except for now.

"Sora, it's alright," Kairi said, coming over and wrapping her arms around the boy comfortingly.

Sora touched his cheek, and realized it was wet. This only served to upset him even further.

"No, its n-not ok, Kairi, because now Riku h-hates me! Sora buried his face his hands.

"Sora, Riku does not hate you, ok?" Kairi said.

"He's just…confused. Over his feelings. That sort of thing," Naminé put in helpfully, coming over in hopes of being part of the dramatic scene.

"His…his feelings?" Sora said, clearly confused, "what kind of…feelings are we talking about here?"

Kairi and Naminé looked at each other knowingly.

"You'll find out soon enough," Naminé said ominously.

_What on Earth is that supposed to mean? _Sora thought.

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Axel flipped through the thirteen channels that came through on his TV impatiently, wishing that just this once, his mother could be normal enough to actually allow her son to lead a normal life and get cable.

Local access, news, infomercial, news, Roxas, news—

Wait, what? Roxas?

Axel quickly went back to channel 9, but to his disappointment, "Roxas" was merely a blonde boy advertising the assets of bagel bites.

Roxas was a lot cuter, in Axel's opinion.

Still, not many people were even comparable to Roxas.

Ever since the boy had moved in a few days ago, Axel had started to develop a slight crush on him. Ok, so maybe it was more of an obsession, but Roxas certainly didn't need to know that.

However, there was a slight problem in their relationship. Along with the fact that Roxas seemed to not want to be living in the same house as Axel, much less be in the same room, Roxas also seemed to harbor a strong dislike for Axel, and, if Axel had heard correctly, frequently had been known to mumble things along the lines of "pervert" and "creep" when in Axel's presence.

No, their relationship clearly wasn't getting off to a good start.

"Axellllll!" Axel groaned inwardly, hearing what could only be the high pitched shriek from the kitchen area.

"What?" he asked quietly, secretly hoping that his mother wouldn't hear his response so that he could get out of doing whatever chore was about to be asked of him.

No such luck.

His mother bopped in (really, there's no other way to describe it), humming something and looking a little too happy to be legal, in Axel's opinion.

"Axel, honey, I need you to turn off the TV," his mother started.

"Mhmblehh," he mumbled, not moving, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

"…and then go take out the garbage," she finished. Still no movement on Axel's part.

"…we're having Chinese!" she tried again, knowing that it was her son's favorite.

Axel shifted his position on the couch. He was getting a rather bad leg cramp from sitting on it for so long.

Selphie knew it was going to take more than that to get Axel off the couch. She thought for a moment, and then a mischevious glint came into her eye.

"We're eating dinner in five minutes, so you better go wake Roxas up," she said. Instantly, Axel turned off the TV and practically ran towards the trash, dumping it into a bag.

Selphie smirked. Well, that was one way of doing things.

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Roxas was having a rather good dream. One involving ponies, and candies, and…was that Chinese food he tasted? Hm…not his favorite, but he could deal with that.

"Roxas…" he heard his name being called in the distance, and came to the conclusion that it was the pony who was saying his name. Hm. That was odd. Roxas didn't know any ponies that could talk. Not personally at least.

"Roxas!" it called again. Roxas, still half asleep, felt something warm and wet in on his ear. Was the pony licking him? Well, that felt kind of nice, but it also tickled a little. He giggled, turning over and lazily swatting whatever was licking him away.

Roxas froze when his hand connected with what felt like bony, hard flesh. He opened his eyes slowly, now fully awake, only to see a large amount of fiery red hair. Roxas swallowed, hard.

"What the hell! Get off of me!" Roxas hollered, although that wasn't necessary, seeing as Axel was a mere three inches away. Axel didn't move off of the smaller boy, but only stared at him.

"What…are you doing?" Roxas asked, glaring at him.

Axel didn't respond, but moved closer still to Roxas, so close that he could feel the light tickle of Roxas' breath on his face. Roxas continued to stare at him, his expression slightly resembling that of a deer caught in the headlights.

Axel leaned forward just a little bit farther so that his lips lightly brushed over Roxas', so lightly that Roxas wasn't quite sure what had just happened.

"Dinner time," Axel said finally, moving off of Roxas and was of the room before Roxas could as much as respond.

Roxas stared after him, half wondering if that had been part of his dream. If so…well, that was weird. If not…what the fuck was Axel doing going around kissing people who clearly didn't want to be kissed by him?

Recovering from his slightly dazed state, Roxas got up off of his bed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. _What a terrible way to wake up, _he thought bitterly, opening his door. He would have to talk to Axel about this kind of behavior in the future.

"I have something to tell you, kids," Roxas' dad said a few minutes later. The whole 'family' was sitting around the dinner table, some eating and some only pretending to eat the interestingly-made Chinese dumplings that Roxas' father had attempted to cook.

Roxas made a mental note to never let his father cook food of the Chinese variety, or any food for that matter, again.

"Next week, I'll be going on a business trip to New Jersey," he began. Roxas nodded. No surprise there.

"And we thought it would be great--"

"If we made it a family trip!" Selphie interrupted.

"--to celebrate our new little family," he continued, both him and Selphie grinning so widely that Roxas thought their faces might split apart.

Roxas couldn't say the same was true for his smile. His smile was more on the reasonable side. Reasonably fake, that is.

"Now, don't you boys worry," Selphie said, "that's not even the best part." If that was good news, Roxas was a little frightened of what the even better news would be.

"I know you kids don't want to wait around while I'm in meetings all day," Roxas' dad started again.

"So while he's doing all that boring stuff…" Selphie continued.

"Selphie is going to take you to Six Flags, New Jersey!" his father finished, exclaiming loudly.

For the first time in weeks, Roxas slowly broke out in a smile.

"Six…six flags, did you say?" Roxas said, not believing his ears.

"Yup! Your father told me how much you love those amusement parks, and I have to say that I'm quite fond of them as well, now and then," Selphie went on, but Roxas wasn't listening.

Instead, he was plotting out the trip, in detail, every roller coaster he would ride, every arcade game he would play, every piece of delicious fried food he would buy.

Yes, if there was one thing in life he could say he truly loved, it was amusement parks. It was a tradgedy, really, that the closest he lived to one back home was a six hour drive.

In his excitement, however, Roxas failed to notice another member of the party who was clearly not as happy with this arrangement.

Axel, sitting across the table from Roxas, paled at the mention of roller coasters. Ever since a certain accident involving his roof and a broken neck, Axel had what could be considered a fear of heights, although Axel preferred to call it a grudge against them. Not a fear, since Axel wasn't afraid. Of anything. The end.

Besides clowns, but again, let's not dredge up the painful past.

Axel looked over at Roxas, who looked happier than he had ever seen him. Happiness suited Roxas, Axel decided. In a moment of emo-ness, Axel sadly thought that he would never be able to make Roxas that happy. Then he got over it.

Roxas, by now having jumped up in joy and was now pacing around the dining room, debated the issue he was now coming to see. On one hand, amusement parks were one of his favorite things. Ever. On the other hand…well, Axel. No doubt they would have a drive down to New Jersey, which took more than nine hours in total, nine hours in Axel's company. This, combined with the time that they actually spent together in New Jersey and at Six Flags, was not something to which Roxas tended to look forward.

Axel's perspective was basically the exact opposite. He figured that he could tough it out during the amusement park portion of the trip, maybe pretend he wasn't deathly afraid of any sort of rollercoaster, and then spend the rest of the time making out—er, hanging out with Roxas. It was a foolproof plan, really.

"When are we leaving!" Axel asked, trying to hide the worried note in his voice.

"…this Saturday," his mother said, eyeing him curiously, "wait, Axel, I thought you said that you didn't like--"

"Waiting to have a super time at Six Flags? Nope, I hate it. In fact, it's my least favorite thing in the world," Axel lied, shooting a warning glance at his mother. He didn't want Roxas to think he was a wimp, after all.

Roxas eyed Axel curiously. So Axel liked amusement parks as much he did? Interesting. Maybe…maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

Somehow, Roxas doubted it.

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Sora rang the doorbell to Riku's house a few hours later, holding his breath. What if Riku didn't want to see him? What if he was really mad? What if he came out holding a shotgun pointed directly at Sora and—

"Oh, hello Sora," Riku's mother said, opening the front door and stepping aside to let Sora enter. "Riku's in his room. You can go right up."

Sora nodded, and then slowly mounted the stairs one at a time. When he came to Riku's door, he gently knocked and then waited for a reply.

"Who is it?" called a voice from within.

"It's Sora," Sora said, holding his breath. He hoped Riku would at least talk to him.

There was a pause, and then, "Come in."

He found Riku sitting cross-legged on his bed, looking at what seemed to be pictures.

"What's that?" Sora asked, pointing at whatever Riku had in his hands.

"Nothing," Riku replied, shoving them underneath the covers on his bed.

There was an awkward silence. Sora wondered briefly what he had planned to say to Riku. Why was he even here?

"Sora…" Riku started, avoiding Sora's gaze, "I'm...I'm sorry. I guess I kind of overreacted back there."

Sora let out the breath he had been holding, and then sat on the bed next to Riku. The springs groaned slightly in response to the added weight.

"No, Riku, I'm sorry…I shouldn't have rubbed it in your face that I won. It wasn't very nice," Sora apologized, looking down.

Riku stared at him. "Sora…that's not…I couldn't care less whether you beat me at video games or not."

Sora looked up at him, curious. "Then why were you angry?" he said, leaning forward.

Riku looked at him, marveling at how cute the younger boy looked when he had that expression on his face.

"I—well," Riku stammered, not sure of how to put it.

"Ri-ku, just tell me," Sora said, poking him in the shoulder.

"I—never mind," Riku said, turning his back to Sora. If Sora couldn't figure it out, then that was his problem, Riku decided.

Sora, not one to stand for not knowing something, poked Riku in the ribs.

"If you're not going to tell me, then I'll…" Sora warned.

"What? You're going to what?" Riku asked, laughing.

"Tickle you!" Sora reached around to the front of Riku and started to mercilessly tickle him. Being his best friend for so long, Sora knew something that many others would be surprised to hear: the fact that Riku, proud, serious Riku, was incredibly ticklish.

"S-stop! Sora!" Riku said through his laughter, tears spilling out of the corners of his eyes. Sora laughed, but continued to tickle Riku like his life depended on it.

"I said--" Riku grabbed both of Sora's wrists in one of hands, flipping the smaller boy over to that he was now pinned under him. "—stop."

Sora squirmed, still laughing. Riku smirked, regaining his composure and proud that he was, once again, in control of the situation.

It was then that he realized the problematic position that they were in. A blush slowly rose to Riku's cheeks.

Sora looked up at Riku, his eyes wide. That was odd. Riku never blushed.

Riku found himself leaning closer to the smaller boy, almost as though some sort of magnetic force was drawing him in. He couldn't think straight. If he had been thinking straight, however, he probably would have wondered what the hell he was doing.

Sora froze, not sure of what was happening. Riku was his best friend, right? Then…then why did he look like he wanted to kiss him?

"Riku! Get down here, America's Next Top Model is on! I think that redheaded girls going to get kicked off this time! You don't want to miss that, do you?" Riku's mother shouted from downstairs.

Riku snapped out of his foggy state of mind, quickly jumping up off of the younger boy. Avoiding Sora's eyes, Riku shuffled closer to the door. "You…you should probably go," he said, "Unless you want to come watch…uh…ANTM with me and my mom."

Sora giggled. "No, it's ok, I better get home for dinner. So…you're not mad, right?"

Riku blinked a few times. "Yeah, of course I'm not mad." _I don't know _what's_ wrong with me,_ he mentally added.

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**Pretty intense stuff. Not really. But Sora and Riku almost kissed. And Roxas and Axel DID kiss. Kind of. More fluff coming up, I promise. Six flags is going to get steamayyyy! Haha jk. But really. It'll be fun. **

**Please review; thats always fun. :D**


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